At stake in the 34th Senate District race is whether or not state Democrats will have an obstacle-free path to raising taxes. Whether or not Democrats will have the necessary two-thirds majority in the state Senate hinges on the outcome of the SD34 battle between Republican Supervisor Janet Nguyen and Democratic community college trustee Jose Solorio.

Taxes are the defining issue between Republicans and Democrats in California. Any success we have in party-building will stem in large part from our traditional anti-tax stance, which better than an any other element of our party philosophy resonates with NPPs and center-right Democrat voters.

As such, helping Nguyen beat Solorio should place at or near the top of any self-proclaimed GOP party-builder’s political priority pyramid. In other words, Munger should be all over SD34 like a cheap suit.

Except he isn’t. The Bow-Tied One has given a grand total of $8,200 to Nguyen’s Senate campaign. That’s like 2-seconds worth of interest on his vast inherited fortune. Compare that to the $663,000 he has spent trying to help one Republican beat another Republican in SD28.

Democratic special interests will pour a river of money into SD34. They have saturated conservation talk radio with misleading attack ads trying to confuse and depress Nguyen’s conservative base. While Nguyen’s fundraising is robust, she still trails Solorio: $646,021 to $765,167. It is rumored that when all is said and done, the Democratic special interest coalition will dump $10 million on this race.

Charles Munger Jr. is virtually the only donor in the state who can single-handedly equalize the situation for Janet Nguyen, and he’s monkeying around in a Reep-vs.Reep contest in SD28.

This is unbelievable and intolerable, and all California Republican Party activists and donors who truly care about re-building our party so it is once again a competitive force should tell Munger as much. Actions speak louder than words, Mr. Munger.

Back in July, we expressed hope that Charles Munger Jr. might see the light. That he might grow and change. That he would use his powers of unlimited campaign contributions for good, instead of evil. In other words, we asked him to please not waste huge sums on Reep v. Reep contests in the fall:

“We hope, in all sincerity, that we will apply his enormous financial resources to electing Republicans to statewide offices and to helping Republicans defeat Democrats in contested congressional and legislative races. We hope, with all sincerity, that he will not once again waste resources on Republican v. Republican elections while leaving wanting for resources other Republicans with a chance of knocking off Democrats.”

We hoped in vain. In the last couple of days, Munger has spent $344,313.81 in an independent expenditure in the 28th Senate District, where Republicans Jeff Stone and Bonnie Garcia are running against each other.

It’s bad enough Munger is squandering such a huge sum in a race Republicans are guaranteed to win. What makes it especially outrageous is he is using that money to attack a Republican – Jeff Stone.

So why in God’s name is Munger wasting so much money attacking a Republican candidate in a seat that Republicans cannot lose? Yes, he supports Garcia, but he already spent nearly half-a-million on her in the primary. Regardless of whether Garcia or Stone win, SD28 is now safely in GOP. Yes, it is Munger’s money to burn, but if he is genuinely interested in building the GOP in CA, it is too much to ask him to burn in a way that will burn Democrats? After all, what over-arching issue is at stake in SD28 that warrants to expenditure of so much in order to tip the balance for or against one Republican over a another? None.

As conservative activist Steve Frank trenchantly points out:

[Munger has spent] a total of $663,000 to defeat a Republican–and elect a Republican against a Republican.

How much has Munger given to Rob McCoy in the 44th? In the primary Munger spent north of $400,000 to defeat him against a GOP’er no one ever heard of before the filing. Since the primary–to elect a Republican and defeat a Democrat Munger has spent ZERO. In other words he prefers to defeat Republicans than defeat Democrats.

An excellent point, Mr. Franks. Rob McCoy could certainly use some help. Brother Munger, can you spare $344,000?

Charles Munger Jr. claims he wants to build up the California Republican party. Call us simplistic, but our idea of party-building involves Republicans beating Democrats in November election contests. The 28th Senate District has been liberated and secured, and so we should move on to legislative territory that is still in enemy hands.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but this is (or ought to be) a crossroads moment for Charles Munger Jr. Election day is five weeks away. He has an opportunity to prove he is interested in party building, rather than party purging. His multi-millions, prudently and strategically applied, can advance the Republican Party in California this November. But his behavior in SD28 is not encouraging to anyone except the Bonnie Garcia campaign and Democrats across California.

As readers know, last year Charles Munger Jr. attempted to silence this blog by using his cats paw Harmeet Dhillon to file a bogus copyright infringement lawsuit against The Munger Games. To their surprise, we fought back and won.

Not only did we win a victory for our own free speech, but it turns out the decision in the Munger/Dhillon litigation is now being cited in other free speech suits and is helping protect the 1st Amendment rights of others.

In 2012, a Florida blogger with an ax to grind against Ranaan Katz, a businessman with a minority ownership stake in the Miami Heat basketball team, used a photo of Katz sticking out his tongue. She had found the photo (which had originally run in an Israeli newspaper) on the Internet. Katz responded by acquiring the copyright after-the-fact and filing a copyright infringement lawsuit against the blogger.

That is exactly what Dhillon would do several months later in early 2013 (and the photo of Dhillon we used wasn’t at all unflattering).

She was thumped in U.S. District Court in Dhillon v. Does 1-10, and had to write The Munger Games a check. Her thrashing in federal court has caused Dhillon, albeit unwillingly and accidentally, to become the 1st Amendment defender she’s been pretending to be.

Last month, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida ruled against Katz and in favor of the blogger’s free speech rights. The court cites Dhillon v. Does 1-10 throughout its decision upholding the right of a blog to criticize someone using their picture.

Quoting the Dhillon decision as the authority, the court stated federal law “expressly permits fair use for the purpose of criticism and commentary of such photos,” solidifying the status of Charles Munger Jr. and Harmeet Dhillon as accidental First Amendment advocates.

The Katz decision cited our case to support its finding that Florida blogger made fair use of Katz’s headshot:

Starting with the 2012 elections, we have operated under the top-two or jungle primary system: the top two vote-getters in the primary election advance to the November general election, even if both are from the same party.

We have this system largely due to the deep-pockets of Charles Munger Jr., who gave us other “reforms” such as the “citizens redistricting” process so ably gamed by the Democrats to the detriment of the Republican Party that Munger professes to be helping.

For Republicans, the top-two primary system has been a harvest of chaos and defeat. We’ve witnessed the spectacle of vast sums (much of it Munger’s) being wasted in Republican v. Republican elections while other GOP candidate narrowly lost to Democrats for want of support by Munger.

So it should come as no surprise that Charles Schumer, the liberal Democratic U.S. Senator from New York, has embraced the top-two primary as the solution to America’s political ills and wants it adopted in every state in the Union. In a New York Times op-ed, Schumer cites California as evidence the top-two primary is good for America:

California, which probably mirrors the diversity of America more than any other state, was racked by polarization until voters approved a constitutional amendment in 2010 that adopted a “top-two” primary system. The move has had a moderating influence on both parties and a salutary effect on the political system and its ability to govern.

The top-two primary has had a “moderating influence”? How’s that again? California’s status as a one-party state has only solidified, and state government spends more than ever and has shifted even further to the Left. Maybe the top-two primary’s contribution to shrinking the CA GOP to the point where it cannot stop Democratic over-reach is what hyper-partisan Chuck Schumer means by “reducing polarization.”

Further confirmation that Schumer’s embrace of Mungerizing the Union came in the form of Arnold Schwarzenegger, who tweeted:

I couldn’t agree more MT @SenSchumer: Our political primary system needs reform; top two would moderate our politics.

The Governator spent almost eight years doing everything he could to “moderate our politics,” and the Republican Party in California was much weaker when he left than when he took office. Pardon us if Arnold’s attaboy to Schumer only deepens our conviction that top-two primary has undermined the GOP in particular and government accountability in general.

The top-two primary is a progressive idea intended to drain political parties from politics, and politics from government. That’s attractive to progressives because parties and politics are obstacles to their ideal form of government: experts ruling through the bureaucracies of the administrative state. That’s why the top-two primary has such a powerful appeal to progressives like Chuck Schumer, Arnold Schwarzenegger…and Charles Munger Jr.

Tony Quinn took up the matter of Charles Munger Jr.’s intervention in the June primary election in a Fox and Hounds column last week. Unlike many in the Republican Party in California, the veteran GOP political analyst clearly apprehends why Munger spends so much money to influence the outcome of primary elections:

“This June Munger began what is probably a long process to reshape the state GOP by supporting with major independent expenditures centrist candidates for the legislature in the top two primary.”

Were Quinn misses the target is thinking this Mungerization process only began this June, rather than a political project that has been underway for several years: a concerted effort to water-down the CRP platform, the top-two primary, the “citizens redistricting initiative” that helped pave the way to a Democratic super-majority in the legislature; heavy-handed intervention in GOP v GOP races while ignoring narrowly-lost Republican v. Democrat contests.

“But nature abhors a vacuum, and into the vacuum of financing Republican candidates has stepped Mr. Munger. Given his successes in June 2014, he is now the dominant force reshaping the Republican Party in California.”

Which makes it even more incumbent upon California Republicans to reflect on what kind of party they want to keep for themselves, and put to Munger more insistently questions and demands as to precisely what sort of Republican Party he is trying to fashion. It’s not as if we don’t already know the answers; we can discern them in the wreckage of his campaign misadventures and political vendettas. The Bow-Tied One is profligate in spending his patrimony, but stingy when it comes to explaining what it is he’s really after.

We, in all sincerity, hope Munger will use his powers for good instead of evil, this November. We hope, in all sincerity, that we will apply his enormous financial resources to electing Republicans to statewide offices and to helping Republicans defeat Democrats in contested congressional and legislative races. We hope, with all sincerity, that he will not once again waste resources on Republican v. Republican elections while leaving wanting for resources other Republicans with a chance of knocking off Democrats.

We do not place excessive hop in these hopes, but at the same time we hope to be proved wrong.

You are one of the most successful investors in history. In partnership with the renowned Warren Buffet, you built Berkshire Hathaway into one of the most successful conglomerates in the world. That is because you recognize and know how capitalize on investment opportunities that will earn a handsome return-on-investment.

Your son Charles Munger Jr. has chosen to invest much of his inheritance on election campaigns. Some might say he is wasting his patrimony on politics. While it isn’t calculated in the same manner as in the world of finance, the idea of ROI still applies to politics and can be measured in terms of how much one spends on elections, and how often one wins those elections.

Charles Jr’s ROI during the last few election cycles has not been…encouraging. But his investments in California’s June primary campaigns were disastrous. Following is a syllabus of those investments:

Anna Bryson, Assembly District 73: This is one of the most Republican districts in the state. There were four Republican candidates who differed little terms of ideology, and only one Democrat. Given that mix, it was likely the Democrat would make the run-off and be crushed by a GOP candidate in November. Charles Jr. invested $414,422.55 to ensure that Republican would be Anna Bryson. Instead, she finished dead last, winning just 11%, or 5,861 votes. That comes out to $70.70 per vote. The winning Republican, Dana Point Councilman Bill Brough, spent a fraction of that amount.

Laguna Niguel Councilmember Paul Glaab, who spent little and benefited from no independent expenditures, dropped out of the race several days prior to the election, endorsed Bryson, and still finished ahead of her.

Bonnie Garcia, Senate District 28: Your son intervened heavily on behalf of former Assemblymember Bonnie Garcia, part of his effort to boost Republican Hispanic candidates. He spending $485,429 in independent expenditures promoting Garcia in a bitter primary contest with Riverside County Supervisor Jeff Stone and Indio City Councilmember Glenn Miller.

Thanks to your son’s massive IE, combined with Garcia’s own-fundraising, status as a former legislator and being the only serious female candidate in the race, there should have been no question of Garcia being one of the top two candidates. making the top-two run-off. However, it was not until a week after the polls closed that it became clear she would be in the November run-off, but as a near-run thing.

Stone 20,750 votes 21.9%

Garcia 18,833 votes 19.9%

Miller 18,379 19.4%

At $25.77 per vote, it was cheaper than his disastrous investment in Bryson futures, but a perilous investment that doesn’t inspire confidence in achieving a positive return in the November.

Jonathan Madison AD22: This San Mateo County district is overwhelmingly Democratic. There is no possibility a Republican can win in November, making this a vanity investment by your son. There were two Republicans running, essentially vying for the opportunity to be demolished by Democratic Assemblyman Kevin Mullin. Your son spent $35,775.37 in an attempt to bestow this honor on Jonathan Madison, a young “policy advisor” to Harmeet Dhillon, the vice chair of the state Republican Party and the cut-out for your son’s intimidation lawsuit against The Munger Games.

It failed. Young Mr. Madison lost to Mark Gilham, garnering just 13.8% of the vote to Gilham’s 15.1%.

This was a doomed investment from the start, and most certainly qualifies as wasting his patrimony.

Mario de la Piedra, AD44: You might call this one a risky investment in a start-up with a dubious pro forma. AD44 is a competitive Ventura County seat with even Democratic-Republican registration that was open due to incumbent GOP Assemblymember Jeff Gorrell’s decision to run for Congress.

Political cypher Mario de la Piedra jumped into this race on March 3, just three months before the primary. He was 26 years old and the apparent left-of-center GOP challenger to conservative Republican Rob McCoy. Not much was known about de la Piedra other than he was Hispanic and in the insurance business.

Your son was prepared to invest his capital into Port Hueneme City Councilmember Sylvia Munoz Schnopp, and had placed his mark on her through his Grow Elect committee, which is charged with electing more Hispanic Republicans.

Apparently, that and horror at the thought of a conservative carrying the GOP banner in the November run-off against Jacqui Irwin was enough to prompt your son and heir to switch his and Grow Elect’s support to de la Piedra. Your son poured $329,500 into pro-de la Piedra independent expenditures by his Spirit of Democracy committee; Grow Elect spent another $38,130.

The wastage of his patrimony was evident in missed opportunities, as well as in bad investments needlessly made. One of your son’s investment goals is to expand his portfolio of Hispanic Republicans moving up the elective office ladder. That’s the reason behind his Grow Elect operation. To that end, you might think he’d invest in opportunities to move Hispanic Republicans into the November run-off. Remember, your son designed the investment environment (the “jungle primary” system) under which he is making these investment decisions.

Take a couple of Orange County opportunities as examples. The 69th Assembly District is a safe Democratic seat at 51% Dem and 23% Republican, but part of moving the needle is running and supporting good candidates. AD69 is heavily Hispanic, but represented by a very Caucasian Democrat in Tom Daly. A Latina Republican, Cecilia Iglesias, threw her hat into the ring. Iglesias was elected to the Santa Ana Unified School District Board of Trustees in 2012. She’s an up-and comer with an legitimate political future, exactly the sort of candidate your son launched Grow Elect to invest in.

Except Iglesias received no assistance from Charles Munger, Jr., and she narrowly missed making the run-off. Instead, Daly’s Republican opponent will be someone named Sherry Walker, who is rumored to have been recruited by Daly in hopes of avoiding a general election face-off with Iglesias.

The overlapping 46th Congressional District, represented by Rep. Loretta Sanchez, was another lost long-term investment opportunity. CD46 is 46% Democratic and 28% Republican, with a sizable NPP vote of 22%. Re-districting left Sanchez’s district somewhat less Democratic and incorporated more conservative areas she had not previously represented. A Hispanic Republican candidate, Carlos Vasquez, entered the race. As noted, the purpose of your son’s Grow Elect committee is, at least nominally, to invest in Hispanic Republican candidates. The Vasquez candidacy was an opportunity to invest in an articulate, conservative Hispanic. Oops, maybe that was the problem – Vasquez is conservative.

In any case, by taking pass, Sanchez will now instead be squaring off in November against a quirky councilman from a city far outside CD46 instead of an energetic Hispanic who could, with assistance, help re-build GOP fortunes in CD46, or at least prevent Sanchez from taking re-election for granted.

To summarize, Mr. Munger: your son wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars on races where Republicans are going to win regardless, and most of the time the Republican he invested in lost, sometimes very badly. On the flip side, opportunities to match his investment resources with his stated investment strategies were passed by, allowing breathing room to Democrats who are now in a position to help their brethren in competitive races.

Look at it this way: if the California Republican Party was a mutual fund, would you honestly hire your son to manage it?

May we gently suggest weekend retreat with your progeny to re-educated him in the principles of sound investment that have worked so handsomely for you.

Those who don’t want Charles T. Munger, Jr., dominating the California GOP. For years now, Munger, one of the children of Warren’s Buffet’s billionaire business partner, Charles Munger, has been spending his patrimony prolifically in California. The eclectic scientist-turned-political sugar daddy has been growing in influence, spending millions in primary and general elections in the Golden State. McCarthy’s ongoing rise means that for now, anyways, Munger clearly is not the most powerful Republican figure in California.

We’re not convinced that McCarthy’s and Munger’s respective visions for the California Republican Party are that much different. Both are moderates with a history of hostility to conservatives (McCarthy is a product of the Bill Thomas machine). At the same time, Fleischman is correct that McCarthy as Majority Leader means there would be another powerful and influential California Republican political leader an alternative, if only so that aspiring GP candidates would’t have to come crawling to Munger.

Just six days until the primary, and there’s no sign of the Munger Money Spigot being shut off. Greenbacks are still flowing as part of Munger’s effort to re-fashion the California Republican Party into the California Munger Party.

Munger, through his Spirit of Oligarchy PAC…pardon us, Spirit of Democracy…put another $21,332 into more mailers for Anna Bryson in South Orange County’s 73rd Assembly District. All told, Munger has now poured $414,422 into an Assembly District that Republicans will win no matter what.

in the last two days, the Bow-Tied One has dumped another $20,000 into mail for ingenue Mario de la Piedra, the 27-year old cipher plucked from obscurity in March to try and stop conservative Rob McCoy from being the Republican candidate in the November run-off.

Munger also spent another $10,971 for a Jonathan Madison in AD 22 (South San Francisco, Millbrae, San Mateo) bringing his total in this race to $35,775. While a pittance compared to what is being showered on other Munger Anointed, we have to ask why Munger is spending any money at all in this race? AD22 voter registration is 50% Democratic, 20% Republican and 25% NPP. Incumbent Kevin Mullin won in 2012 with 71% of the vote. Why is Munger wasting money trying to pick which of the two Republicans (Madison or Mark Gilham) will be blown out by Mullin in November?

Of course, this is all Charles Munger Jr.’s money to spend. But his decisions about where to spend it belie incessant claims from him and his apologists that he’s only trying to re-build the GOP in California. If that were true, why has he spent north of $400K (just for example) in an Assembly District, the 73rd, that it is impossible for the GOP to lose, and where there is little appreciable difference among the four Republican candidates? At the same time, he’s doing nothing to build the Republican Party in parts of Orange County were it really needs building. Where are the big IEs for Cecilia Iglesias, a hard-working Latina who is trying to defeat Democrat Tom Daly in AD69? Is she too conservative?

As we’ve said from the beginning: we acknowledge the positive things Munger has done for the party, but that should not blind us to his true purpose: remaking the California Republican Party in his own image and likeness, as if 1964 had never happened. Let’s be wide-eyed and wide awake about it.

Charles Munger Jr. is spending money so quickly and prodigiously in his effort to determine the outcome of Republican primaries around the state that it is difficult to keep up. There are 10 days to go until the June 3 primary and the Bow-Tied One is really pouring it on.

Since our post a few days ago, Munger has upped the ante for his favored candidate in the very red 73rd Assembly District – pumping in another $71,000 for pro-Anna Bryson mailers in the last 48 hours.

At the same time, super-rich her has put another $41,717 into his attempt to boost moderate GOPer Jay Obernolte into the top-two in AD33.

In AD44, 26-year old neophyte Mario de la Piedra benefited from a $9,500 IE for mail pieces, bringing the Munger pile being spent on the young, unknown moderate to $309,000.

Munger has also intervened in the gubernatorial primary in league with billionaire Robert Day and two other donors. On May 19, Munger and his confederates formed “Californians for Kashkari for Governor 2014″ and put $415,000 into it; $350,000 coming from Munger. On May 20, Munger’s committee spent $172,266 on mailers for Kashkari, who is trailing conservative Assemblyman Tim Donnelly in the polls despite significantly outspending the controversial legislator from Twin Peaks. Is that going to be enough? How much more is Munger willing to uncork to try and pick the Republican gubernatorial nominee?

It’s important to keep in mind what is going here: Munger isn’t trying to build the California Republican Party; he is trying to transform it into the California Munger Party. If he succeeds in picking the leading Republican candidates in June, then he is well on his way to his goal of pasteurizing the state party platform and chloroforming Reagan conservatism as a force in the CA GOP.

Charles Munger Jr. has every right to waste as much of his patrimony on politics as he pleases, but let none of us kid ourselves about what he is game is.

As 2014 began we expressed the hope that Charles Munger Jr. would learn from past mistakes and reserve his hoard of cash to help Republicans beat Democrats in November elections, instead of wasting his patrimony on primary battles in safe Republican seats. We knew it was an almost certainly vain hope, which the Bow-Tied One has confirmed by dumping into his campaign vehicle, the Spirit of Democracy PAC, a fraction of his vast wealth: $1,908,770 to we mere mortals.

Munger deposited the first installment of $953,195 into his PAC in mid-April, and put another $955,575 in on May 12; which was also the day he really cranked the spigot wide open. Among the primary beneficiaries of his largess are Mario de la Piedra in AD44; Anna Bryson in AD73; Jay Obernolte in AD33; and former Assemblymember Bonnie Garcia in SD28; all four are to the left of the other Republican candidates in their races.

Since May 12, Munger has poured more than $485,000 into the 28th Senate District primary on behalf of Garcia: $385,000 on cable/TV ads, $47,000 on mail and the rest on polling and research. Garcia is facing off against conservative Riverside County Supervisor Jeff Stone and Indio City Councilman Glenn Miller, both whomheld a joint press conferencelast week blasting Munger for trying to buy the seat for Garcia.

26-year old Mario de la Piedra jumped into the race for the 44th Assembly District in early March, running against conservative Republican Rob McCoy of Newbury Park and Democrat Jacqui Irwin of the Thousand Oaks City Council. AD44 is currently held by Republican Jeff Gorrell, who is running for Congress.

Since May 12, Munger has pulled out the stops, buying $300,000 in cable/TV ads on behalf of de la Piedra’s candidacy. Given there’s just one Democrat in the race, Munger’s goal is to push the moderate and more pliable youngster into the run-off past conservative favorite Rob McCoy.

Further south in Orange County, four Republicans and one Democrat are vying to make the November run-off in AD73. With so many GOPers in the mix, only one is likely to make the top-two. Munger has chosen Capistrano Unified School District Trustee Anna Bryson. Perhaps the liberal Munger was attracted by the ideological flexibility Bryson has shown on the CUSD board as it has shifted from conservative to teacher union control. Since May 15, Munger has spent more than $322,000 on mailers, polling, research and a huge cable/TV ad buy.

And as of yesterday, Munger had splurged for more than $202,000 for moderate Jay Obernolte in AD33, paying for mailers, polling. cable/TV ads and web ads.

That’s more than $1,283,000 in just four races. Even after adding in the Spirit of Democracy money blast in other races, the Spirit of Democracy PAC still has a pile of dough to spend with two weeks to go until the primary; and really, there is no genuine ceiling on how much Munger can uncork for the June election.

Finally, for all the claims from Munger apologists that he’s really all about building the Republican Party in California, it’s worth noting that Munger is spending far more money, far more quickly trying to anoint Munger Minions for the November run-off than he has put into building the actual state Republican party. What we';re seeing here isn’t party building as we understand it. It’s more like a political version of terraforming: Munger is using his wealth to manufacture an atmosphere in the CA GOP to which only leftward-leaning and ideologically flexible candidates can successfully adapt.